Peter Panzer

Thanks to those of you who have documented the infantry hedgerow movement issue potentially exacerbated by v4. I was excited to purchase the upgrade, however the maps I play on feature the affected terrain type(s) prominently and I’m not willing to introduce frustration into my v3 gameplay, which I am currently enjoying very much! Is it too early for a consensus to have formed as to whether teams becoming unintentionally detached from their squads in certain terrain/movement conditions is an uncommon “corner case” or a frequent, predictable occurrence? Does it only happen when teams are joined as a squad or also when they are already split into individual teams? I am willing to try this. Is there a guide explaining how to create multiple installations of the game somewhere? After doing so, do you simply create a v3 and v4 shortcut to the respective exe.’s to launch the version you want to play?

Another solid effort here Steppenwulf - well conceived and executed! I definitely admire your studious attention to detail and clean aesthetic. Thank you for sharing your work - it is a substantive enhancement to the game! By the way, the Orlan UAV and PKP are much better in v2 - kudos for being open to the correction!

I see the SdKfz 231 (8 rad) made it into CMFB. Only having the demo at present, did the issue with the middle wheel (2nd axle from the front) on the left side (viewing the vehicle from the front) being vertically misplaced and not rotating when the vehicle is in motion get fixed? This also occurs in the latest CMBN/MG version as well. If not, there’s one to add to the minor bug list. As a light armor enthusiast, it would be great to see a fix back ported into CMBN/MG if there is another patch slated.

Hey Steve: Granted it may be early, but have you guys started sketching out possible timeframes and settings for CMx3? Perhaps a past hypothetical (Fulda Gap '84), future fictitious action (Korea 2025) or will we return to WWII (Barbarossa '41)? Personally, I consider Battle for Normandy to be a real masterpiece at this point with Black Sea showing an exciting degree of promise. I'm curious if you can share a thought on at least the chronological direction the next iteration of CM may take. By the way, congrats on Final Blitzkrieg entering the homestretch - being able to play out scenarios in the Hurtgenwald is very enticing...

Lots of good stuff here waclaw - thanks for sharing and continuously updating your mods.

Steppenwulf: This is great work - good choice of images to use as icons and also an expert job of making sure they read clearly and cleanly within the UI. Thank you for sharing! Check your references for the Russian PKP GPMG and Orlan UAV - your icons for these two items depict the wrong real-world hardware. Other than that, well done!

I am closely alternating between two scenarios in Black Sea and Normandy. It's a lot of fun observing the parallels, developments and differences among the modeled forces... Below Two simulated US mechanized infantry units make pushes in their respective eras. Carentan, June 1944, a US armored infantry platoon struggles forward in the face of determined local counterattacks and stubbornly contested terrain. 73 virtual years forward, Vlasivka, the armored infantry's evolutionary heirs are imbrued in their own unforgiving exchange fencing from village to village in the central Ukraine. Systems and methodologies change - the nature of combat and the calculus of war does not. Across the mud and thickets of the peninsula, the '44 armored infantry of The Third Herd leverage the mobility and firepower of their combined arms in the opening moments of an assault. Channeling the lessons of their forebearers, the future-fictitious soldiers of the 2nd BCT, 1st AD bring their own corresponding multipliers to bear. All the while, across the digitized gulf of time are a tandem of motivated, deft adversaries determined to assert their own initiatives. Below OPFOR light armored elements swing into spoiling actions. Employing autocannons and MG's, the forces of each period are capable of more than passive surveillance, they can fight for information and shape the battlefield in their own regard. Below The advancement of infantry delivery systems on display. Each a role player at bussing squads to the FEBA or pushing further as a pivotal asset in applying fire and maneuver doctrine. Mobility. Survivability. Lethality. Below Employing a range of magnified sights and sloped steel to advanced sensor packages and composites, generations of heavy armor make their presence felt shifting the battlefield balance in their corresponding ages.

Kieme: Allow me to add my personal thanks and congratulations on modding every vehicle in the game, not to mention so much more! As you must know by now, your talent, drive and generosity are greatly appreciated and have added an invaluable amount of increased enjoyment to the experiences of your fellow Black Sea players. Do you have any interest in modding the small arms and crew served weapons? I think you could do a great job!

I don't think sburke's sentiment is out of place either and I can certainly see how he could arrive at his question. Take me for example, I have been playing CM since the spring of 2001, however I seldom post to the forum. On the rare occasion I do, it's almost always the simple task of thanking a modder/BFC, reporting a bug or asking a technical question, but man I am infatuated with this game. My first video wargame experience was Combat for the Atari 2600 and yes, my friends and I would gob at the colored rectangles and muse aloud, "wouldn't it be cool if they really looked like Shermans!" It's also safe to say we were the only seven year olds in our small town that could tell you the diameter of a WWII era bazooka rocket. Merciful god - what glorious little freaks we were. Bookend the joystick and button mashing sessions in those formative years with endless firefights among 1/72 scale Screaming Eagles and the injection moulded Wehrmacht and it isn't too hard to project how I ended up with BFC's baby on my present day hardrive. Every so often when playing CM the spell gently lifts and I snicker at the realization - I am well into adulthood and still playing with little army men. To sburke's point, here is a moment from this last weekend that made me stop and marvel at the depth of experience CM delivers. The two Strykers in this image are on the 'splody end of a RUS fire mission. After a nearby shellburst decomissioned the M1126's RWS, an onboard sniper took up position and began scanning for targets. How cool is that? Take heed all of you with a hand in the game's development, your efforts are noticed, no matter how small. Your work not only gratifies us as adult wargamers, but also invites our boyhood whimsy to step right up each time CM lays out the welcome mat.

Great to see you back at it Kieme - I've recently circled back to CMBS after v1.03 was released and your vehicle and building mods look fantastic in-game. I think there are only a few vehicle textures remaining you have not touched - what an outstanding effort!

Kieme: Good to see you back. Here’s hoping real life has calmed down enough to allow you to get back to what brings you (and judging by the size of this thread, many of us) joy. Quick question, will you also be modding the artillery observation variant of the BTR? It looks like it was left out of your original set for these vehicles. Thanks again for all you have done to help take Black Sea to new visual heights - I can't wait to see what you have in store for us next!

Kieme: Many thanks for your tireless work and generosity - your buildings are particularly magnificent. Regarding the RUS AFV's, I am thrilled to see a collaboration between yourself and BTR! It is also great to see someone leveraging the normal maps to greater effect as they apply to vehicles - well done. Will you be doing a weathering mini-mod of the “Common Gear” applied to vehicles? Presently, we have weathered vehicles with clean gear applied. This small mod could also extend to the crew served weapons mounted to vehicles: .50 HMG, TOW launcher, PKT etc.. Thanks again for all of your contributions - I have really been enjoying them!

Really solid stuff here. Very well thought out variations in both the RUS and UKR sets. Thanks Vein - these are a big step forward and are easy keepers.

Pardon me folks, I typically do not wade into threads like this one, but Steve’s post on page two (#33) made me have a Colonel Kilgore moment… There is not a single untrue word or sentiment in his post, which is why I got a bit of a twinge upon reading it. Having migrated from Close Combat to Beyond Overlord way back when, Combat Mission has earned the top spot in my rather limited gaming time over the years. It has been a fun ride watching the game, company and the people behind it grow over time. While I selfishly fantasize that Steve, Charles and the crew will produce Combat Mission games late into their lives the likely reality is, as Steve planted the seed, they will eventually move on to other pursuits. As this thread shows, we will all determine how much enjoyment we permit these titles to bring us. As for myself, I plan to soak up every last minute of wonderfully engrossing fun Combat Mission brings because…

Nik Mond: Thanks, I'm glad folks enjoy them. The UKR soldier model was my favorite too. I thought catching an angle that permitted the virtual soldier's gaze to meet the viewer's might create a nice little effect. You guys did such a great job - it's a pleasure to show off the game! ridethe415: Thanks. If time permits, I'll try to share more as my first scenario unfolds. The textures are Fuser's "Weathered Faces" from Battle for Normandy, I simply renamed them for Black Sea using the filenames found within the 100a.brz. You can get the same effect yourself very easily - try it out! I get a kick out of everyone's stories and images in this thread. Keep it up fellas.

Saferight: Nice collection - thank you very much for sharing as I pulled out several of your images to fold into my own little portfolio. US images that fit the setting of Black Sea seem particularly challenging to find seeing as most in circulation, understandably, are from desert or high mountain environments. Some clever cropping/rescaling of pictures from Hohenfels can work in a pinch, but I think you already know that. Do you think you might select a few to craft into alternatives for the main splash screen?

Nice work BFC and Beta Testers - thank you! A worthy combination of small and large fixes delivered very quickly. I've noticed a positive shift in your online presence with ChrisND's streaming and interactive chats, more frequent updates on the forum and now a substantive, responsive patch less than two weeks after the launch of a new title. How great is it to be at a point where the majority of fixes are gameplay/balance related instead of pertaining to the engine itself? Keep up the great work and congrats on Black Sea! I noticed the Corsar ATGM now seems to appear more readily. Art/model related - do RUS platoon leaders really carry an AK-74 and an AK-74U as they presently do in Black Sea? I think I have spotted some PKP gunners toting around rifles in addition to their GPMG as well.

From an ongoing scenario... Meet Captain Maksym Kyrychenko. The remnants of his tattered line company are attempting to strongpoint a series of forested hillocks outside of Stara Basan. Attrited by the devil's luck slugging of RUS attack helicopters and SPA, his men inhabit the fringe between despondency and the need for retribution. In these images, Kyrychenko's BTR-70K and his attached US liason team pull their vehicles off the road as the battalion net spits and hums: local air defense warning - attack imminent. As the LADW comes down the line a UKR mech platoon relocates their mix of vehicles under the canopy in an effort to conceal themselves. In the bottom image, a UKR soldier reacts to the thump of rotor blades and the stacatto reply of small arms in the distance while frantically offloading ammunition from his squad's IFV. The platoon's sister company is being consumed. The Bear is coming. 800 meters north of the UKR FEBA a pair of BRM-3K's push hard into their next position and disgorge their recon teams. The shock and violence of their supporting arms and the recon company's own resolute pace of manuever has fractured the UKR lines throughout their area of operations. The ineffectual response of UKR counter battery fire and the flickering resistance offered by opposing ground forces affords testimony to their sobering efficiency. Elsewhere, the command element of the RUS assault recon company sends its dismounts forward for a last minute appraisal of the line of advance. Jointly, the cramped interior of the pictured BMP-3M thrums with activity as the platoon CO and his attached air controller labor to synthesize the encrypted traffic from their forwardmost units and the live video stream from a skyward Zala UAV. A pair of inbound Mi-28N attack helicopters skirting the treetops will herald the company's entrance onto the battlefield.

Marco: Your silhouette mod has been a long time, often used favorite of mine - thanks for the Black Sea version! I can’t wait to see the silhouettes for non-vehicle units (ATGM’s, MANPADS, aircraft, mortars, etc.). Also, thanks for your work on the official release graphics. Black Sea is one of the best day one releases I think BFC has offered. Congrats to the entire art team.* * As an aside, whoever is creating the models (Dan Olding?) is absolutely killing it - routinely. There hasn’t been a Combat Mission game yet where I didn’t spend the first post purchase hour pouring over the vehicles, infantry and crewed weapons and I always come away impressed.

Here are a few images from my first scenario. As good as Battle for Normandy is, I can't help but wonder if Black Sea will soon mature and surpass it as BFC's masterpiece. What an embarassment of riches. Wary of possible UAV observation and the threat of precision fire, a RUS assault recon unit coils its way through a tree line in order to mask its movement. Their task in the Stara Basan countryside is threefold: identify enemy strongpoints, direct friendy CAS and pathfind for the follow on assault company. A RUS BRM-3K bolts from concealment enroute to taking up a new position. Exhaustive observation must be measured against the need for high tempo operations. Mobility is survival. 900 meters to the south of the RUS probe, a weary UKR platoon debuses in a shallow defilade and hastily prepares for the hammer blow about to befall them.

Insta-f*ckin' download the minute it's posted. Get all up in that motherf*ckin' sh*t post haste.

This also happened to me when I tried to install Black Sea in the same "Battlefront" folder as Battle for Normandy. I ended up canceling the install, re-installing and letting BS place its content in its default path. Both games appear to work, but I now have my BS "Game Files" and "User Data" in one location and the remaining BS files in another. My OCD side prefers a cleaner installation, but I'm not sure it's worth the potential time and effort. That said, I'm really looking forward to getting some game time with Black Sea in the next few days.

Fuser: It’s great to see you back and enjoying the new models BFC has served up! Thanks for thinking of the community - I would be interested in seeing your versions of any of the following: Market Garden PSW 234/4 75mm armored car Mobelwagon Sdkfz 10/5 AA halftrack Marder II PaK 36 37mm AT GunVehicle Pack Manpack Flamethrowers Geschützwagen 39H(f) 75mm Geschützwagen 39H(f) 105mm Flakpanzer 38(t)I don’t know about anyone else, but a new release just doesn’t seem complete to me until Fuser, JuJu and Marco Bergman have applied their talents to the textures and UI!

Hit decals are turning out to be one of my favorite little, big things introduced in 3.0. I especially enjoy the forensic element they bring to the game. In my first 3.0 scenario, this early model MkV has taken three rounds to its front from a US tank destroyer. Check out the "penetration" decal on the muzzle break, which is aligned with the "ricochet" decal on the mantlet. The game actually tracked and recorded the M18's round passing through the L/70 and expending the rest of its energy on the mantlet rendering the gun inoperable in the process. Good stuff.

Is the SdKfz 251/17D modeled with a fixed gun intentionally? I was of the understanding the 20mm autocannon on these vehicles was capable of a 360 degree arc whereby air or ground targets could be engaged. The Combat Mission version has the FlaK aligned over the front of the vehicle and it does not rotate or respond to Covers Arcs. Shouldn't the traverse of this vehicle's weapon system be modeled along the lines of the 251/21 (MG151/15) rather than the 251/9 (L/24)?